A new
Letter from the Chairman on the Roberts Space Industries website has word
that Star Citizen crowdfunding has now surpassed the $18 million mark,
just a week after the announcement
the upcoming space combat game had reached the $17 million plateau. Chris
Roberts explains the "exclusive star system for backers" triggered by reaching
the $18 million goal, and also goes on to discuss balancing the game's item
sales based on supporter feedback. He also unveils their $20 million goal is
"First person combat on select lawless planets. Don’t just battle on space
stations and platforms… take the fight to the ground!" He calls this their
"penultimate planned stretch goal," cryptically explaining: "While goals will
continue after $21 million, they will take a new form representative of what
additional funding can add to the game!"

siapnar wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 11:08:I think all the money, regardless of the amount, should be used solely for streamlining and improving the original game design, rather than adding things on. Make it the best possible game of it's kind, never mind to extended ideas and added on stuff.

I definitely disagree with this. To me, space combat can only get so good. I'm not saying I've seen the "perfect" space sim yet -- not at all!

But no matter how good the space sim is, the illusion of actually flying in the awesome vastness of the universe is quickly removed by the realization of it being nothing but a few 3D models surrounded by a high-rez texture that's "the infinity of space". Adding depth to this by making planets to land on, with FPS content, makes the magic that much more magnificent. To complain about it is to complain about a loving relationship with your partner containing sexual intercourse. w00t!

And running around in a high rez background box with a few 3d models and high rez textures in FPS mode changes all of that?

Quboid wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 14:20:It worries me that this originally had a Kickstarter goal of $500,000, now it's at $18,000,000 and counting. This is a completely different project which they're not ready for.

Kickstarter was only addon to their original campaign, which was for $2M + 10M to 12M from investors.

That's a good deal better. Does this $18M figure include any non-crowd investment or have they been able to cancel that?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

So far they have delivered on time with the Hangar Module. The early previews were mostly from Squadron 42, so we know that they have that at least some working. I always remembered them talking about 2015 for the full release.

They already talked about being able to walk around complexes Planetside and there was plans for FPS space and ship combat, so I don't see how adding planetary combat is that much of a stretch. Yes, you require more content developers, but 1 million could get you 10 to 20 more content developers for 1 year.

From Wikipedia--------------

Star Citizen is being developed using a modular approach, with the first module (dubbed the "Hangar Module") scheduled for release on or around 29 August 2013 in order to coincide with the games appearance at the 2013 Gamescom trade fair.

The initial release of the Hangar Module will allow backers of the project to explore their virtual ships from a 1st person perspective within Cryengine 3. Subsequent updates to the Hangar Module will include the ability to add upgrades and modifications to players' ships and allow players to invite friends to their hangar. The module system is intended to be iterative in nature, with updated version of modules being released as and when additional functionality and content are finalized.

Other Modules which have been mentioned by the developers (if not officially confirmed) include:

The Dogfighting Module (estimated December 2013) will allow a limited number of early backers to playtest the ship combat portion of the game against other players.

The Social/Planetside Module (estimated March–April 2014) will allow backers to experience the 1st person non-combat planet based environment, consisting of various shops and bars.

Squadron 42/Singleplayer Alpha (estimated August 2014) - little is known at this stage, but it is understood that this module will allow backers to try out the branching single player campaign (known as Squadron 42).

Persistent Universe/Beta (estimated end of 2014/early 2015) - again little is known at this stage, but it is understood that this module will allow backers to access a Beta version of the massively multiplayer persistent universe (known as Star Citizen).

Final Release (estimated Q1 2015) - Full commercial release of both Squadron 42 and Star Citizen.

ViRGE wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 12:13:It sounds like the $20mil goal is it for major stretch goals. They won't be adding any more major features after that.

FPS mode in game running on CryEngine is major?

Creston wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 12:39:Was FPS combat always supposed to be part of Star Citizen? It seems a weird thing to add on to a space trading/fighting sim?

Since initial campaign.

Creston wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 12:43:I wonder if maybe he's not shifting back the release date (which I agree with you is becoming utterly impossible) because he's worried it will affect the funding rate? I can see people donating heavily to something they think they will play next year. Would they be as generous if Roberts came out and said "Look, don't expect this until 2016/2017?"

Alpha of persistent world is supposed to be in december 2014 and since there won't be any reset at release, they'd just keep adding, upfating and streamlining until, they check last position on to do list.

Dmitri_M wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 12:53:I'm sorry, but that is not incredibly easy unless they don't mind it being a tacked on and brief. Art resources, weapons, environments, player models, FPS gameplay all need to be implemented. There is nothing straight forward about that.

They already had fps combat (in space) and walking in station. Now it's fps in station. Easy.

Tumbler wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 13:22:I'd be more excited to see them build a variety of different starter level ships and make those an option for players who are in the Aurora or the 300i. They already do have some variants of the 300i but I believe they all increase the cost. Having other options at the starter level or just above would be a smart move.

Quboid wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 14:20:It worries me that this originally had a Kickstarter goal of $500,000, now it's at $18,000,000 and counting. This is a completely different project which they're not ready for.

Kickstarter was only addon to their original campaign, which was for $2M + 10M to 12M from investors.

DangerDog wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 15:13:$100 million stretch goal, have your conscious uploaded to a server and get the true Star Citizen experience*

the hangar module and bigger ships are already there... you can walk around FPS, walk around your spacecraft. i have a freelancer, it has 3 sections, the cockpit crew area, what i suspect is a engineering area, and the cargo hold.

it does say "select lawless planets", simply an instance or quest i would imagine. so far the hangar is clearly an instance.

i dont see how this is going to be an issue since they are not building a game engine.

ill keep mentioning the game Freelancer... the design of that game was amazing imo, could have been much better if it was deeper, there are hints of deeper gameplay aspects, im confident Star Citizen will be a more complete experience.

my only real concern will be the direction they go after release... will they in fact update it and add content for years to come? thats the gamble, but it looks like many of us that want to see this game happen have deep pockets!

Quinn wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 14:42:But no matter how good the space sim is, the illusion of actually flying in the awesome vastness of the universe is quickly removed by the realization of it being nothing but a few 3D models surrounded by a high-rez texture that's "the infinity of space". Adding depth to this by making planets to land on, with FPS content, makes the magic that much more magnificent. To complain about it is to complain about a loving relationship with your partner containing sexual intercourse. w00t!

So, you would like to have chess being a part of poker games, because otherwise poker wouldn't be like "a loving relationship with your partner containing sexual intercourse"? Hilarious. Was "X-Wing" a bad game, because "Dark Forces" was not a part of this game? What the hell are you talking about?!

Quboid wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 14:20:It worries me that this originally had a Kickstarter goal of $500,000, now it's at $18,000,000 and counting. This is a completely different project which they're not ready for.

siapnar wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 11:08:I think all the money, regardless of the amount, should be used solely for streamlining and improving the original game design, rather than adding things on. Make it the best possible game of it's kind, never mind to extended ideas and added on stuff.

I definitely disagree with this. To me, space combat can only get so good. I'm not saying I've seen the "perfect" space sim yet -- not at all!

But no matter how good the space sim is, the illusion of actually flying in the awesome vastness of the universe is quickly removed by the realization of it being nothing but a few 3D models surrounded by a high-rez texture that's "the infinity of space". Adding depth to this by making planets to land on, with FPS content, makes the magic that much more magnificent. To complain about it is to complain about a loving relationship with your partner containing sexual intercourse. w00t!

CJ_Parker wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 11:39:SC will be awesome and somewhat resembling the stated vision in 36+ months from now but it is high time that CR sobers up and sets people's expectations straight for the beta and the initial release of the game. The expectations are through the roof right now with all of the success of the funding campaign and the features that get piled onto an already scary and humbling pile of work.

Yeah you are right about their impossible release schedule. I expect some serious whining from clueless hype-drunken folk once reality settles in with a beta release that doesn't remotely satisfy the dreamy spec sheet for this game. Hell all that I really want is Squadron 42.

Dmitri_M wrote on Sep 7, 2013, 13:10:He's quoted as saying "Don’t just battle on space stations and platforms… take the fight to the ground!" so I guess they had some FPS combat already planned? Must have already factored in creating art resources and gameplay additions to facilitate FPS play. Still, seems super ambitious for a Space Sim. I kind of like the ambition though. I hope this all works out in the end.